Locked In
by Yemi Hikari
Summary: Things aren't going well for Bailey


_Disclaimer – I don't own Horseland. This is for the first May 2014 Challenge for Horseland Dreams Forever! forum.  
**Prompt**: The first sentence of the story is, "reluctantly, he handed over the key"._

**Locked In**

Reluctantly, he handed over the key. Bailey frowned as he watched the teacher take the key and unlock his school locker. His hands clenched and his teeth gritted together. As the teachers said, they could have gone as far as to cut the bolt on his school locker rather then giving him the chance to open it for them. He watched as the teacher opened up the locker and a CD fall out.

The teacher bent over and picked up the CD and took note of the item and flipped it over and over. He then looked at Bailey, frowning. "Do you know how this got into your locker?"

"Personally, I would like to know how that got into my locker as well, as I've honestly never seen it before."

"I need you to come to the principle's office Mr. Handler."

Bailey took a deep breath and followed the man, wondering when and where this whole fiasco had in fact started, but he couldn't think of who would have stuck the CD into his locker, let alone how they had gotten it in. He sat down on the seats and hung his head, letting it hang down so that he couldn't see what was going on. He could hear the office lady on the phone calling one of his parents as the bell rang. His stomach honestly hurt and he wished he could be at home, riding the horses rather then being at school.

"Your parents will be here in fifteen to thirty minutes."

What the lady didn't say was that they were likely there to take him home as he was likely facing some kind of suspension due to something he wasn't sure was going on. It was thankfully his mother and not his father who came through the door. "Bailey... do you understand what is going on?"

"I know that they found something... a CD in my locker."

"That's more then what they told me." The woman turned to the office lady. "I want to speak to the principle now please."

"He is kind of busy."

"He wants to suspend my son and he's too busy to explain why?"

"Actually... it is one of the teachers who is demanding that Mr. Handler be suspended. That's who he is in with now."

"Then I very well can be allowed in on the conversation as well as my son."

"That..." The office lady paused, before going to the principle's office and the door opened. She then came back and Bailey finally found himself face to face with the principle.

"I would like to know why my son is being suspended."

The teacher looked up. "We've suspected some cheating to be going on. Another student told us they had been getting the answers from the tests from your son and informed us that we could find a CD in his locker."

Bailey looked up, a rather shocked look on his face. "Hold on..."

"We found the CD, we did not."

"I told you, I don't know what it is. I'd never seen it before it fell out of my locker."

"It fell out?" The principle raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Glowsky didn't have to go digging for it."

"No sir."

"Then how do you explain how we found it in his locker?" Mr. Glowsky looked at the principle in fury.

"Aren't the air vents for the lockers large enough to push this through."

"Yes... but..."

"Mr. Glowsky... who is the student that told you it was Bailey giving out the test answers."

"But it has to be him. How else can he get most of the answers right on my tests unless he had the answers when he doesn't bother to turn in his homework?"

"I may get most the answers right on the tests, but I don't get the score I would normally get as you dock me for not showing my work." Bailey looked at the wall.

The principle frowned. "Bailey... you do realize that what we're talking about is important."

"I don't think my grades are a matter when I've been accused of something else. Just one more reason for me to hate school."

"One more reason?" Mrs. Handler frowned.

"The whole getting accused of cheating of course."

"Nothing else..."

Bailey frowned. "I can't think of anything else. I mean, I can't for the life of me think of why anyone would want to accuse me of helping other students cheat. I've been trying to think of that. Then again, I don't know why those guys do the other things they do."

"What other things?" The principle crossed his fingers together.

"Shouldn't we be discussing the disc?" Mr. Growsky shook his head.

Bailey found himself paling. "Other things..."

"Yes. What other things are going on?"

"And be accused of being a tattletale as well?" The boy shook his head. "No thank you."

"Except I am asking for the truth."

"It's no big deal. These guys are just being guys and I need to be able to take care of myself." A look from his mother caused him to sigh. "Sometimes they steal my lunch and eat it themselves. Other times they dump it into the garbage instead. Twice this month I've found my stuff in the garbage, and they call me particular names." Bailey frowned, then spoke again listing off the names. "They also try stealing my homework to cheat off of."

"Is that why you don't turn in your homework?"

"Now. It used to be just that I forgot it at home. I don't see the point in doing it anymore when they're just going to take it and crumple it up into the trash when they're done."

The principle spoke up. "Names Bailey."

The boy sighed, listing of the names. The teacher flinched at one of the names and the principle looked at him. "Let me guess. One of those boy's are the kids who told you that you could find the disk in Bailey's locker?"

"Yes sir."

Mrs. Handler let out a sigh and directed Bailey to go back to class. The boy stopped short upon seeing Alma in the door way, holding a bunch of Bailey's things from his locker. His eyes went wide at the torn up notebooks and the damaged textbooks. The principle's arms were folded across his chest. "What happened?"

"For some reason Bailey's locker was open and everything was strewn across the hallway. One of the teachers has the rest of Bailey's things." Alma had a frown on her face. "Bailey... what is going on?"

The teacher began to fiddle with the lock in his hand while the principle spoke. "I'd like those boy's brought in now."

Bailey took the items from Alma's arms, unable to speak. Mrs. Hander sighed. "If you don't mind, I think I should go ahead and take both Alma and Bailey home. Alma, could you go and get your stuff as well as the rest of Bailey's?"

The girl looked at the principle who nodded his head. The girl headed off and after fifteen minutes she was back. Bailey found himself heading out with Alma and his mother when the boy's who had been picking on him came out. Each glared at him as if he had done something wrong. He let the items crash into the back behind the truck seats and took the center seat and let Alma take the window seat. He leaned back and closed his eyes.

"You could have told me something was wrong." Alma spoke up.

"We don't share any classes anymore." The boy kept his eyes closed. A soft rain began to patter down and they got out of the truck.

Alma's father saw them and came over, a frown on his face. "Alma... what are you doing home as well."

Mrs. Handler looked at the man. "I apologize for making the decision to bring home Alma as well. I'll speak to you about that now in private."

"I'm going to my room." Bailey scooted away and headed up to his room, enjoying the darkness. His mother eventually came in and set a lunch down, but he didn't eat it.

A knock finally came at the door. When he didn't answer the person came in and then sat on the bed next to him. "Auntie told me what was going on. Why didn't you say anything Bailey?"

"And do what? Tell you Will so they could have gone and beaten them up? That would have only made things worse."

Will pulled himself up and flopped next to where Bailey was lying his arms crossed behind his head. "Ah... I see. So the reason you didn't come forward didn't have anything to do with the fact you felt there was a legit reason for bullying you and that you felt you deserved it." The darker haired youth remained quiet. "I thought it was that. You know... I think a lot of people who are bullied think that at some time."

"Then why were they bullying me?"

"Do you remember when it started?"

"Not really."

"Alma does."

Bailey sat up and looked at his brother, frowning as he did so. "How?"

"She remembers being the one to tell them that the two of you live at Horseland together, albeit in different houses on the place. She then mentioned the fact that your entire class for riding is except for yourself girls. She even mentioned some names."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You just need to know that the guys picked on you because they were jealous because you get to hang out with Alma and the girls. They know about Chloe, Zoey and Sarah as their families are rich too. So..."

"If they were jealous then why did they tell me I was a dweeb for being in a group that was all girls. They even said..." Bailey snapped his eyes shut. "Well... never mind."

"Because they didn't want you to know the truth about why they were bullying you. Don't worry about it though."

"Why? After their suspensions are done they'll be right back at school, doing the same thing."

"Those kids got caught stealing test answers. They're now under the radar of the teacher."

"Great... you do realize that's going to make things worse! They'll blame me."

"Tell Auntie if they do happen."

"And be a tattletale? Haven't you heard the phrase snitches get stitches. Even the rest of the school will be against me."

"What would you do if they had been bullying another kid?"

"I would have told..." Bailey let out a sigh and flopped back down onto the bed. "Thanks Will."

"You're welcome."

_Note – One of the themes I like writing about is the issue of bullying. I mean for this story to be about a bully falsely accusing another of bullying, but it ended up just being a bully accusing someone of something else._


End file.
